Bottle carrier



June 4, 1957 H. J. GOSS 2,794,572

BOTTLE CARRIER Filed April 12, 1952' INVENTOR. HAROLD J 608.8

United States Patent BOTTLE CARRIER Harold J. Goss, Nashua, N. H., assignor to International Paper Box Machine Company, Nashua, N. 11., a corporation of New Hampshire Application April 12, 1952, Serial No. 231,963

Claims. (Cl. 220-118) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in thin paperboard carriers for bottles or the like.

An object of the invention is to provide a non-collapsible, rigid carrier which can be shipped in blank form and set up at the bottling plant on many well known types of gluing and folding machines.

Another object of my invention is to provide a carrier principally formed of a thin inexpensive paperboard but having one side wall or central, longitudinal, partition panel of greater thickness to lend the desired rigidity to the carrier.

Still another object of my invention is to provide such a rigid side wall or panel in the form of a separate insert, at least twice the thickness of the material of the remainder of the carrier, rather than merely doubling over said material as has sometimes been done in saddle bag type carriers.

A further object of my invention is to provide lateral cross partitions in a bottle carrier perpendicular to the bottom thereof but extending obliquely across the bottle compartments thereof at spaced distances therealong and fixed at each opposite edge to an opposite compartment side wall. By such construction the oblique partition contacts a bottle on each side tangentially and at nonadjacent points, therefore providing a cushioning effect of great value.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a cross partition member with an integral side wall' glue flap and terminal glue flap located on each opposite side of the lateral, oblique cross partition portion thereof, the glue flaps being positioned to give added rigidity to a carrier when glued in place.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a perspective view of a bottle carrier made according to my invention with a portion of the carton walls cut away to show the construction.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a separate blank of extra thick paperboard, from which my rigid wall panel is formed.

Fig. 4 is a plan view on a reduced scale of a separate blank of thin, inexpensive paperboard from which the compartmented carton of my carrier is formed.

Fig. 5 is a view of a paperboard carton of another type having cross partition members according to my invention.

The preferred form of my invention is shown in Figs. 1-4 wherein the bottle carrier A is formed from a separate panel blank B, forming a central, longitudinal partition, and from a separate compartment-forming blank C.

The blank C is preferably formed of thin inexpensive paperboard, for example about twenty thousandths of an inch in thickness, and it should be noted that there is almost no waste material cut out therefrom. Crease lines 40, 41 and transverse crease lines 50,51 together with slits 60, 61, 62 and 63 define a rectangular bottom wall 20, a pair of elongated side walls 21 and 23 and a pair of end walls 22 and 24, each of the walls'being integral with the bottom wall 20 and foldable upwardly ice therefrom to form a rectangular carton. A cross partition member 25 and 26 is integral with each of the opposite side edges of end wall 22 and a cross partition member 27 and 28 is integral with each of the opposite side edges of end wall 24. Each cross partition member such as 27 is foldably connected to its end wall such as 24 by the line of articulation such as 51 and includes two additional lines of articulation 70, 71 dividing it into a side wall glue flap portion 73, an oblique lateral cross partition portion 74 and a terminal glue flap portion 75. Glue, or other suitable adhesive is applied to blank C along the longitudinal centre line 80, along the glue flap contacting surfaces 81, S2, 83 and 84 of side walls 21 and 23 and along the surface of the terminal glue flaps 85, 86, 87 and 88 of cross partition numbers 25, 26, 27 and 28.

The blank B is preferably formed of a single piece of paperboard which is at least twice the thickness of that used in blank C for example of a thickness of forty thousandths of an inch. Crease lines 90, 91 and 92 define a panel 93 which is equal in length to the elongated side walls 21 and 23 but which preferably is of greater height than any of the walls of blank C. A hand or finger opening 94 is provided in panel 93, the cut out material being bent upwardly and glued in place as at 95 to give double strength to the handle portion of the carrier. A lower glue flap 97 and side glue flaps 96 and 98 are integral with panel 93 and are foldable at right angles on crease lines 90, 91 and 92 when the carrier is to be assembled and set up. A row of finger holes, may be substituted for hand hole 94 if desired.

In assembling the carrier the adhesive is first applied to the portions of blank C indicated in Fig. 4. The blank B is then placed on blank C so that the lower glue flap 97 adheres along the glued centre portion 80 of bottom wall 20. End walls 22 and 24 are then unfolded so that side glue flap 98 adheres along the glued line 80 of end wall 24 and side glue flap 96 adheres along the glued line 80 of end wall 22. Each of the cross partition members 25, 26, 27 and 28 are then folded inwardly so that the undersurface of each side wall glue flap such as 73 adheres to the glued portion such as 83 of a side wall 73 and the glued surface 87 of terminal glue flap 75 adheres to the central portion of the central, longitudinal, partition panel 93.

A six bottle carrier such as A is thus formed, of rectangular cross section, having a three bottle compartment 100, 101 also of rectangular cross section on each side of panel 93, each three bottle compartment having three individual bottle cells of trapezoidal cross section 102, 103, 104, 105, 106 and 107 formed by the lateral oblique cross partition such as 74 of each cross partition member 25, 26, 27 and 28.

As best shown in Fig. 2, three bottles D are contained in each compartment and 101 and the central longitudinal partition panel 93, of double thick paperboard, serves as a separating partition between the compartments as well as forming the inner side wall of each compartment. The three bottles D in a compartment such as 101 are separated from each other by the lateral oblique cross partitions such as 74 of the cross partition members 27 and 26. The bottom well 20 is of such dimensions that each outer side wall such as 21 is spaced from central longitudinal partition panel 93 a distance equal to the diameter of a bottle D. However, the end walls 22 and 24 are spaced apart a distance equal to the total diameters of three bottles D plus the thickness of the-lateral, oblique cross partitions such as 74and preferably plus a slight additional distance. A lateral, oblique cross partition such as 74 thus contacts a pair of adja cent bottles at tangential points 120, 121 on opposite sides of the centre line of the oblique partition. In view of the additional space between bottles, the oblique partition can yield a small distance to cushion the bottles upon sudden impact. In addition the oblique position of the lateral cross partition, with each side edge thereofheld tightly against a side wall of --the three bottle cornpartrnent, permits each bottle to be held in place as effectively as if a filler of much greater thickness was in serted between each adjacent pair of bottles.

It should be noted that the carrier A in addition -to securing rigidity from the double thickness of panel 93, secures additional rigidity from the :glued centre column at 29%) made up the two thicknesses of panel 93 plus an additional thickness on each side thereof in the form of terminal glue flap such as 75. .Each vertical corner of the carton has a vertical column 201 of two thicknesses of material made up of a side wall such' as 23 and a side wall glue flap such as 73. The panel glue flaps 96, W and 98 of double thick material glued to the centre line of the bottom and end walls provide further rigidity to the carrier.

In Fig. 5 is showna modified form of carrier E having only one elongated compartment .300 of rectangular cross section such as might be used tocarry only three bottles such as D. Carrier E includes a carton D having a bottom wall 32% elongated side walls 321 and 323, end walls 322 and 324 and glue flaps 301, 302, 303 and 304, the blank therefor being shown in dotted lines. The carton D is glued together in a well known manner to assume a rigid non-collapsible form and is made of .a single thickness of paperboard.

A separate insert K including an elongated side wall 329 and lateral, oblique cross partitions G and H, similar to oblique cross partition 74, is thereafter glued in place. Side wall glue flaps such as 373 of insert K are glued to side wall 329, terminal glue flaps such as 375 are glued to an intermediate portion of side wall 321 and wall 329 is glued to wall 323. While my new lateral, oblique cross partition members G and H, as shown in Fig. 5, can be used with other types of rigid cartons to form a bottle carrier, I prefer that one of the'elongated side walls of each three bottle compartment be of double thickness and that it be a separate panel, as in the structure shown in Figs. 14. I also prefer that my lateral oblique cross partition members extend the full height of the walls of the carton thus strengthening the same and permitting the carrying of bottles or cans of various shapes and cross sections.

A large percentage of the cost of making paperboard carriers, in the vicinity of 80%, lies in the'cost of the paperboard itself. It will therefore be apparent that the use of a thin paperboard for the major portion of my carrier, while still providing unusual strength and cushioning effect results in a saving in cost of manufacture. A further advantage of my carrier is the full display surfaces on each side thereof and the fact that printing can be applied to the entire undersurface without being affected by the adhesive on the upper surface.

It will be noted that there are no adhesive connections on the undersurface of the bottom wall 20, the wall 20 being integral with all four upstanding walls whereby a carton placed on a wet surface does not have its glue flaps loosened by the water. It should also be noted that certain laws or regulations require or suggest a definite thickness of material between adjacent glass bottles shipped in commerce. With the carrier of this invention the central longitudinal panel insert may be of the required thickness while the remainder of the carrier is of less costly and thinner paperboard in view of the cushioning efiect of the lateral oblique cross partitions.

I claim:

1. In a six bottle carrier of paperboard, the combination of a panel insert formed of a single piece of a double thickness of paperboard, and forming the central,

longitudinal partition of a double rectangular compartmented carrier, said panel having integral glue flaps along the lower end side edges thereof and a rigid carton formed of a single thickness of said paperboard, rigidly attached to said panel, said carton having a rectangular bottom wall glued intermediate thereof along its central longitudinal axis to the lower edge glue flap of said panel, a pair of end walls integrally upfolded from said bottom wall and each glued intermediate thereof along its central longitudinal axis to aside edge glue flap of said panel; a pair of elongated side walls integrally upfolded from said bottom panel and four identical cross partition members each integral with and foldably connected to an opposite side edge of one of said pair of end walls,

" each cross partition member having a side wall glue flap portion glued to an adjacent side wall of the carton, a lateral cross partition portion of greaterwidth than the width of a compartment extending obliquely across the adjacent portion of a compartment at a spaced distance from the adjacent end .wall and perpendicular to the bottom wall and a terminal glueflap portion glued to an adjacent portion of said central longitudinal panel, thereby 'forming two spaced apart oblique partitions on each side of said longitudinal partition panel dividing each of said rectangular compartments into three cells of trapezoidal cross section. V

2. A combination as specified in claim 1 wherein the pair of parallel opposite sides of each cell of trapezoidal cross section, centrally :disposed on each opposite side of said longitudinal panel, are formed by an outer cell wall of greater width, and an inner side wall of less width, than the width of the base portion of a bottle.

3. A combination as specified in claim 1 wherein each rectangular compartment of said six bottle carrier is substantially equal in inside lateral dimensions to the maximum outside diameter of a bottle but is substantially greater in inside longitudinal dimensions than the total outside maximum diameters of three said bottles.

4. A combination as specified in claim 1 wherein each said cross partition portion of said cross partition members converges toward the centre of said carrier and the terminal glue .flaps thereof are glued in abutting relationship along the vertical axis, of said central partition to form a reinforcing column therealong.

5. A box blank for a carrier for two rows of three identical bottles, said blank comprising an integral substantially rectangular sheet of paperboard longitudinally creased and laterallyslit and creased to provide a centrally disposed rectangular bottom panel substantially equal in width to the total diameters of two bottles and substantially greater in length than the total diametersof three bottles; a pair of opposite end wall panels, each articulated to, and co-extensive with the lateral crease line of said bottom panel; a pair of opposite side wall panels, each articulated to, and .co-extensive with, the longitudinal crease line of said bottom panel; .four identical cross partition members, each cross partition member being articulated by a longitudinal crease line to one of the opposite sides of one of said end panels and separated from the adjacent side wall panel by a lateral slit and each cross partition member being divided by two spaced apart parallel longitudinal crease lines to define along its base a side wall panel glue 'fiap substantially equal in width to the-diameter of a bottle, to define, intermediate thereof, a lateral oblique cross partition panel of greater width than the diameter of a. bottle, adapted to extend obliquely between adjacent bottles in a row of bottles when erected, and to define, at its terminal end, a glue flap for immovably fixing said cross partition in place when erected, and a separate panel insert of double the thickness of said box blank adapted to form :a central longitudinal partition in said carrier when said box blank is erected, said panel insert having ;a glue flap along each opposite side edge for attachment to the centre of an end wall panel of said blank, a glue flap along its lower edge for attachment References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Coyle Sept. 5, 1933 Korte Jan. 7, 1936 6 Quackenboss Ian. 5, 1937 Goodyear Apr. 4, 1944 Ringler Sept. 17, 1946 Grecco Sept. 7, 1948 Smith et a1 Ian. 25, 1949 Ringler Oct. 2, 1951 

